


Someone Needs a Hug

by Kittywitch



Series: Reconstruction Era O.Z. [4]
Category: Tin Man (2007), Tinman
Genre: Literature, M/M, casual use of a homophobic slur, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 17:12:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3496331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittywitch/pseuds/Kittywitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While staying at the Ice Palace, Glitch wakes up Cain and complains that he's too cold. Cain thinks very little of Glitch's plan to share a bed with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone Needs a Hug

The door opened, and the sleeper lifted his gun and opened his eyes.  
What met his eyes was a loudly patterned pajama leg. Cain tried to think of a reason Glitch would wake him up in the middle of the night without screaming at the top of his lungs. Maybe it was because he Cain's mind was still groggy, having been woken up after only just falling asleep, but nothing came to mind.  
"Royals safe?"  
"Last time I checked."  
"Is the ice palace on fire?" Cain grumbled.  
"I wish." shivered Glitch.  
"Then what are you doing here?"  
"It's cold."  
"I repeat what I said about being in an ice palace."  
"I'm serious. I can see my breath in my bedroom."  
"That does not explain why you're in mine, Glitch."  
"I'm cold."  
"Are you serious?" he snapped, sitting up in bed. "You woke me up because you were _cold_?" Glitch rolled his eyes.  
"Well, when you say it, it just sounds stupid." Glitch was not going to sleep, and if he had anything to say about it, neither would Cain. Cain raised his head and looked at his friend in disbelief.  
"And what do you expect me to do about this?" he asked. Glitch started to walk around the room, gesticulating as he spoke.  
"Did you know that the northern castle has been totally encased in ice for so long that parts of the walls have eroded away? Now, this hasn't become a problem yet; of course, because the ice it's self now supports almost thirty percent of the castle. Mostly the outer walls, of course; but it still means that lighting a fire, even in a fireplace, as was my second thought; is a really bad idea." he sounded as if he was giving a lecture on thaumadynamics.  
"Glitch." Cain said, "Please tell me that wasn't your point."  
"Then I thought of the seers. They sleep in large piles to conserve body heat."  
Cain stared blankly at him for a minute.  
"You're not serious."  
"You got a better idea?"  
"I'm not cold." Cain pointed out.  
"This is your revenge for me dealing with the heat well, isn't it?"  
"I'm going to sleep now, Glitch."  
Cain rolled over onto his side, so that his back was to his companion. It probably wouldn't convince him to leave and it definitely wouldn't block the noise, but it was better than nothing and he did intend to sleep tonight.

There was the soft sound of bare feet moving across the floor, then silence. If Glitch had left, then the tinman was safe to go back to sleep. His eyes closed.  
Something touched Cain's back. His gun was pointing at it immediately. A hand closed over his and moved it down beside his chest where it was lying before. It remained there, as did the arm now draped over his shoulder.  
"-what are you-"  
"Hey Mr. I'm-Asleep-now." Glitch snapped. "I'm cold and if you're asleep, you can't complain."  
" 'If you're asleep, you can't complain.' " Cain repeated. "How often does that line work for you?"  
"There's no line, I'm just cold." he said sharply. "If I was going to seduce you, I'd have put a bit more thought into it."  
"Do you want the bed to yourself, Glitch? I don't think I'll be able to sleep ever again." Glitch did not respond, but pulled his feet up under the blankets. They brushed against Cain as he settled himself; and removed the doubt that he was in fact cold.  
Why he had decided the way to deal with this was to climb into Wyatt's bed was yet to be explained, but he wasn't lying about being cold.  
And then he set down his head, and Wyatt winced.  
"Gaaayaah." Glitch lifted his head again.  
"What was that?" he asked.  
"Get that zipper away from me." Wyatt hissed through grit teeth.  
"Sorry." said Glitch, slightly abashed. "Just remember not to lick it." Cain paused in confusion. He didn't want to know the answer, but he had to ask.  
"Why would I want to lick it?"  
"To see if your tongue would stick to it."  
"Where would someone get the idea of getting their tongue stuck to your zipper?"  
"Nothing. Nothing involving cultural grooming as an apology for trying to eat my hand. Or thinking my hair really needed combing."  
"I'm really starting to wonder about you and Raw."  
"Really?" Glitch asked. "I didn't think I left much to the imagination."  
"Oh, Glitch..." Cain groaned.  
"It wasn't fun for me, either. See how you like having cold metal pressed against your head."  
"I do have cold metal pressed against my head. Get a hat. Especially if you're going to be ramming your head against someone's neck." Cain groused. "Now shut up or go away."  
Cain did not expect this to work, but not only did Glitch fall silent, but he adjusted his head so that he was protecting Wyatt's neck from the zipper. With his face.  
His face wasn't exactly warm either, but it wasn't the zipper.

Every creature and every person had a slightly different smell. That was a fact of life most civilized people attempted to deny, through rigorous bathing and never getting close enough to find out. But what you ate, what you handled, and and what you did effected your smell as much as any amount of colognes and soaps could. And Glitch, Cain found, smelt like a cross of sandalwood and pancake syrup. Not maple syrup. Pancake syrup.  
He was insufferable. Always saying the stupidest things and poking at things that were best left alone. And now he was stealing the blankets.  
"You have your own blankets, Glitch." Cain pointed out, tugging them back. "They're on your bed. In your room."  
"But you have much better heat retention then I do." Glitch pointed out. "Maybe I have circulation problems."  
Cain pressed his lips together. He didn't want to say this. But he had to.  
"I don't think the problem's your circulation, Glitch."  
There was another pause in which Glitch figured out what Cain was talking about, and then he responded by jabbing one of his knees sharply through the blankets. Cain kicked him back.  
"Ouch!" Glitch exclaimed. He kicked Cain again. Cain kicked Glitch. Glitch kicked Cain. Cain cocked the pistol.  
Glitch removed his arm.

As he drew his hand back, it passed over Cain's chest. It paused, and Glitch blinked in confusion.  
"Cain? Are you wearing a shirt?"  
"Just my pants, why?"  
"I think I just figured out why I get cold faster than you do." Glitch answered, poking experimentally.  
"Stop playing with my chest hair."  
"Both moons, Wyatt! You're like a mobat!"  
"Please stop playing with my chest hair and go to sleep."  
"Seriously, I think Raw has less body hair than you do."  
"Are you done, Glitch?" Cain asked with annoyance. The other man stopped pawing at his chest and took his arm all the way back to his side of the bed.

It wasn't the fact Glitch had decided to climb into his bed in the middle of the night that Cain objected to, as such. It was the way he had made a production over being cold, and how obviously the only solution was to wake up Cain and get into bed with him, and how obviously being cold was the only reason Glitch would do this.  
Not only the fuss he had made about it, but the fact that he had woken Cain up to do it and then talked at him for five minutes, time which would really have been better spent unconscious.  
The fact that he actually was cold, as witnessed by his face, his hands, his pointy little feet and all places where the advisor's flesh was allowed to touch his own were roughly the same temperature as a snowball was not the point. Except in the fact that having semi-frozen extremities pressed against you made it very hard to sleep, whether or not you liked the person to whom these were attached.  
True, ideally they wouldn't be sharing a bed at all, but the way Glitch had handled it was annoying.

It had been several years since he'd allowed anyone to fall asleep against him. And that hadn't ended well.  
He missed his wife. He'd spent the last several years watching her be murdered, over and over and over. It never stopped hurting to watch her die, even after he learned she'd survived that attack. Adora had died loving him, and now Wyatt was in bed with another man. It filled him with two emotions in direct conflict. Part of him wanted to throw Glitch out, perhaps beating him slightly as he did so. Did he really think anyone could replace his wife?  
At the same time, he it made him totally and profoundly lonely. Cain bit his lower lip slightly and blinked. There was a difference between crying when you couldn't help it, and just crying. Glitch didn't say anything, but replaced his arms comfortingly. Cain arched his back into the other man and raised his free hand to touch his arm.  
He knew Glitch wasn't going to ask why he was crying. It helped more than he cared to admit.  
Glitch's hand slid over his and held it, and therefore the gun under it.  
"Why do you keep grabbing my gun?" Cain asked softly enough that he couldn't hear that he'd been crying.  
"Just want to know where it is." Glitch whispered back. Cain considered this. Same reason he was holding it. Glitch settled himself against Cain's back.  
"Help help." Wyatt grumbled softly. "I'm being spooned against my will." Glitch scoffed.  
"Like I'd be alive if I tried this and you actually minded." he whispered sharply. Cain emitted a sound that either could have been a grunt or a very short laugh.  
"'Night, Glitch."  
"Goodnight, Cain."  
"Comfy back there?"  
"Yes, actually. Thank you."  
"Good. Now shut up." Cain allowed his shoulders to relax and tried to go back to sleep, made slightly harder by a cold face against his neck. It was hard not to breath in synchronization with someone who's rib cage was pressed against yours, and harder to stay awake when you were breathing slowly. Cain's grip on his gun relaxed, and Glitch's fingers slipped into the gaps.

Cain was rudely awakened shortly after sunrise by someone flinging him halfway across the room. It took him a moment to get his bearings and push himself into an upright position.  
"What the hell is going on?!" the inventor snapped. Cain said nothing. He decided he would just glare at Glitch until he remembered who he was and who's idea it was to cuddle.  
And if the glare didn't remind him, he still had his gun.  
"I said, what the hell is going on?!"  
"You're a fag!"  
"Insulting me is not going to help anything!"  
"No, that's what's going on. You're a fag."  
"Oh right. Sorry Cain. Little slow this morning." Glitch started to help him up, then remembered something.  
"Hey! I actually was cold last night!" Glitch defended. Cain narrowed his eyes.  
"Well, your feet were. I'll give you that."

**Author's Note:**

> I just realized that I had eight fics in the "Tinman" folder on my computer, some in progress and one or two completed, but only one uploaded. So, despite the fact it probably still needs more editing, I give you... a blanketfic. I, not being a slash fangirl normally, (truly, these two awoke something in me I never would have suspected was there) did not know this was a cliché. I just thought of how many layers Glitch wears and how often his body language suggests that he's cold; so naturally my thought was of Glitch trying to steal Cain's body heat. With a hug, because that's how they roll in the O.Z.
> 
> Anyway, I gave up into editing this into something a little less patently ridiculous. I mean, the whole chest hair bit. I just noticed during the scene in de Milo's wagon, where his shirt's open; he has really dense chest hair.
> 
> I would also like to apologize, Glitch references "Summer Day" in this story, and I haven't finished that fic yet.


End file.
